Heavy equipment careers rise and fall in popularity on a regular basis and it is hard to assess any reasons for this swing. Demand is not really the factor. In fact, demand is created when heavy equipment careers seem to drop in popularity. Should you consider a career as a heavy equipment operator? Here are few key benefits to a career in heavy equipment:

• Wages – heavy equipment operators are amongst the best paid workers on a construction site. Away from construction, they still receive decent wage rates.
• Life time skills – operating heavy equipment is a little like driving a car or riding a bike. You never lose these skills. Sure, if you’re out of the business for a long time, you may take a couple of hours to reacquaint yourself – but the basics skills will return quickly.
• Travel – skilled operators are required everywhere. In fact, there is a world wide demand for operators so the opportunity exists for travel, either interstate or internationally. Gain you qualifications through a training company that offers nationally accredited training.
• Work hours – some consider this a minus. Generally speaking, an operator is up early and finishes early. There are some projects where the work is undertaken in shifts so you may find yourself working afternoons and evenings. You may also need to work on weekends. However, extra hours means extra pay.
• Respect – the community in general, along with fellow workers, all have a huge respect for competent operators. In fact, you will often be the envy of others.

A career as a heavy equipment operator is challenging, interesting and rewarding. Those that enter the field generally stay for many years. The current attrition rate in operators is not because they dislike the job; most of those leaving are doing so because they have reached retiring age. Like the sound of a heavy equipment career? Contact ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools for details on our next training program.

If you’re looking at a heavy equipment career you have a number of options available to you. These include the area you may wish to specialize in and how you can enter that area of choice. Despite, or perhaps because of, the recent economic downturn, heavy equipment operators are in demand and some employers feel that this spring and summer will see shortages of suitably skilled people in many heavy equipment areas. How do you get your start then?

You have a number of options and they all start with training. If you’re not professionally trained to operate heavy equipment these days, most employers won’t look at you. There are plenty of training options available. We suggest you select only those training organizations that are accredited to deliver nationally recognized training. This means any credentials you receive should be recognized nationwide.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools are one option. You can start by undertaking our free online training program, or you can contact us for information about course details. We can even post out information on training programs available. We have training centers in almost a dozen locations – there is sure to be one reasonably close to you.

If you wish to specialize in one particular piece of equipment, you can. Our training covers a range of machinery depending, the range will depend on which of our training facilities you attend. It is often a wiser move to wait until you have completed your training before deciding on which piece of heavy equipment you want to specialize in. In our experience, students soon develop a natural affinity with one or more pieces of equipment and that is then where they tend to specialize. Heavy equipment careers – they are in demand and the demand is growing. Contact us for more information on heavy equipment training choices.

Are you considering a heavy equipment career but not sure about what the future holds, or what to do next? Perhaps we can help. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools is one of the oldest schools in the country with over 25 years experience training people for careers including truck driving, crane operations and, of course, heavy equipment. It seems logical that if you have questions then you ask those with the experience.

You have several options. The first option is to visit our primary web site and view the video on heavy equipment training. This may answer some of the questions you may have concerning a career as a heavy equipment operator. While you’re there, request one of our brochures – this will provide you with an overview of our training schools and what training options are available to you.

You may also want to check out our free online heavy equipment training program. This training program will provide you with an introduction to heavy equipment and the various equipment that comes under this classification. Once you have completed your online training, take a moment to sit back and reflect on it. Does a heavy equipment career still hold its appeal. If so, contact us and we can answer any further questions and provide advice on when and where our training programs commence.

A heavy equipment career is a challenging, interesting and rewarding career. You rarely find heavy equipment operators that are bored or dissatisfied with their work. The training you receive through ATS is to a national level, which means your skills are transportable around the country. Interested in a heavy equipment career? Why wait? Ask us and we can get your new career in motion almost immediately.

If I was to pick one season that was best for commencing a heavy equipment career it would probably be winter. Demand for heavy equipment operators is at its peak during spring and summer. In the Fall, demand starts to drop off a little as projects begin to wrap up for the winter months. Winter, of course, can be reasonably quiet when it comes to demand. But then, you are not looking for employment yet – you are looking for training.

Therefore, the best time to start a career as a heavy equipment operator is during the winter months. During this period you can undertake your training and, if possible, follow it up gaining hands on experience. It may be just pushing snow around a heavy equipment yard – but it is still experience. Once winter has come and gone and construction companies are starting to gear up again, you will be training and experienced and ready to start the ‘real’ work.

Timing is important. If you start the process now, you could probably have everything in place to start training around mid-January. If you undertook your training through ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools, you would complete your heavy equipment training in early to mid-February (depending on when you commenced). A couple of weeks of experience with a willing employer and come March, when employers start to look for operators, you’re there ready and waiting.

Changing careers always takes a lot of thought and a lot of forward planning. In winter, things are generally quiet so this is the perfect time to go through that planning process. Get your timing right and you will be ready for that heavy equipment career just as employers start looking for operators.

Heavy equipment careers are rewarding on many levels. The pay packet of course is one of the first that people look at and heavy equipment operators are fairly well payed when compared to other construction workers. One of the biggest rewards an operator gets is the feeling of power. When you climb into that cab, it feels like it is you and your machine against the world – you are in your own environment.

If you are really keen on moving into the field of heavy equipment operations then there are a few things that you can do that could give you a head start. The first and obvious area to research is heavy equipment training. Without training through an accredited training company, your chances of gaining employment will be greatly reduced. Be sure your training is accredited on a national level – this is one of the only means of determining the quality of the training company.

Training is the first step and gaining employment the last step. In between, there are a number of things you can try. The first is to look around at family and friends. Do any of them work in any area that uses heavy equipment? If so, find out if they can help to arrange a meeting with the person responsible for that heavy equipment. Whilst employment is important, what you need more than anything else is time behind the control. With this in mind, your request will be more along the lines of work experience rather than employment.

Other areas include heavy equipment hire companies. You may not get much experience using the earth moving side of things, but they may allow you some work experience time moving heavy equipment, performing visual inspections and basic maintenance.

Don’t be put off by refusals. Insurance is always an issue with heavy equipment owners. They also have a lot of money tied up in their equipment so they cannot afford any down time caused by accidents. They are going to be cautious at the best of times. However, every operator had to start somewhere and if you use that approach, someone will provide you with some experience. If you prove yourself to be a competent operator, who knows, they may recommend you to a job vacancy.

Good quality heavy equipment training followed by some hours behind the controls will provide you with the credentials to finding full time employment quite quickly. You just need to be proactive to help yourself if you want to a heavy equipment career.

When most people talk about heavy equipment careers the mind conjures up images of a bulldozer, grader or perhaps an excavator. They are no doubt the big three when it comes to heavy equipment, but there is a range of other equipment that also provides for interesting and well paid careers. This equipment includes:

• backhoes,
• wheel loaders,
• scrapers,
• rock trucks,
• Skid Steers, and
• All-Terrain Forklifts.

And that is just a short list. We talk a lot about backhoes and occasionally about wheel loaders but Skid Steers, All-Terrain Forklifts, scrapers and rock trucks rarely get a mention. These machines provide valuable service in their niche and without them, we would have to resort to using hand tools of some description. Take the all-terrain forklift. This vehicle is similar to a standard forklift but it can safely transport loads over different terrains. Without it, we would be forced to break loads down to much smaller sizes to move them over the rough terrain.

Scrapers of course do just that. They scrape the surface in preparation for other equipment. Rock trucks help to remove large rocks from construction sites whilst the little skid steer is able to get into tight areas to work where no other vehicle can fit. This machines all offer interesting careers. The skid steer maybe a small machine in comparison to a bulldozer, but it is still a valuable part of the heavy machinery family.

One of the benefits of training through ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools is that students are introduced to a range of machinery. This provides each student with a broad set of skills and a better insight into how each piece of equipment fits into a construction team. Heavy equipment careers don’t sit solely with the big three – there are many other options available for you to look at.

There are a great many ‘home renovators’ and amateur ‘garden designers’ in amongst us and over the years they have gathered together an array of skills. The question is, can they build on those skills for a heavy equipment career? It is important to understand that just about anyone can find a career in heavy equipment with the right training. Those that have been involved in the workplace, or home activities like those mentioned, bring with them a wealth of skills and knowledge.

There are pluses and minuses to this. Yes – there are minuses. Sometimes we need to untrain individuals of bad habits they may have picked up over time. This is done by training you in the right habits. Having said that, there are a great many benefits to be had by coming into heavy equipment with a few life and trade skills. These include:

Patience – having the patience to know that jobs need to be done in the correct order to achieve a result.

Tool knowledge – heavy equipment operators need a good knowledge of hand tools. Attachments may need changing, minor repairs, and perhaps even changing a tire – these all require the use of hand tools.

Safety awareness – workplace safety is a priority issue in today’s modern workplace. Having a basic understanding of workplace safety helps to rationalize any safety issues specific to heavy equipment operations.

There are many other skills that an individual develops in life that they can bring to a career in heavy equipment. You certainly don’t need to be a youngster to start training although being young at heart certainly helps. Heavy equipment careers are for everyone – all that is require is the desire.

Heavy equipment careers are booming with government statistics suggesting that demand for operators will continue through to 2016. Back in 2006 (latest reliable statistics), there were 494,000 heavy equipment operators spread across the nation. The predicted trend was that this number would grow by about 8% by 2016 – that is around 40,000 new positions or around 4,000 new jobs each year. That doesn’t tell the whole story, however.

It is predicted that around 14% of operators (2006 statistics) will leave the job in that same period, many through retirement as the baby boomers era starts to decline. That represents around 70,000 operators leaving the industry – or 7,000 per year. The net total is a requirement of 12,000 new trained workers each year until 2016.

You know what they say about statistics and I agree to an extent. You will not see 12,000 new jobs each year. In fact the projection had been for a steady annual increase in the number of new recruits required. 2010 is when the baby boomers are expected to drop off the employment charts in bigger numbers. This has been offset somewhat this year by the strong demand for new recruits to service the construction programs associated with the economic recovery initiatives.

If you take all that and put it together – the bottom line is that demand for heavy equipment operators is NOT expected to drop at all. This means that anyone entering a heavy equipment career can expect stability of employment until at least 2016. That’s good news for everyone involved in the industry. However, what about today – right now – what is the demand?

A quick search on Google produced many lists of job vacancies. Indeed.com represented the average with almost 3,000 opportunities listed for heavy equipment operators. I suggest, if you are looking at a heavy equipment career, you get started. There has never been a better time like the present – take advantage of it while you can. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools can quickly get you started in a rewarding career as a heavy equipment operator.

Our country was built using the skills and labor or migrants. In fact, most of us come from migrants, even you can trace your ancestry back to the first arrivals – they were still migrants. We are still accepting migrants into the country and sometimes those migrants need to adapt their skills to our work environments. Heavy equipment is no different.

Heavy equipment skills recognition is not always as easy as looking at your foreign qualifications. Crane operators, for example, require certification in many states. Truck drivers will need to pass local commercial drivers license tests. The biggest hurdle facing many migrants is that need to be able to read, write and speak English reasonably well.

If they are able to communicate, the rest becomes a lot easier. Taking part in an accredited heavy equipment training program, an accredited crane operator training program, or an accredited truck driver training program will provide the migrant with the necessary skills and workplace safety knowledge that is required to work successfully in this country.

Yes, their skills are transferable to a certain extent. However, there are many countries that are not quite as advanced as ours. Their heavy equipment is not as advanced as ours – in fact, some are absolute dinosaurs. New technology such as GPS and laser will be quite strange to many migrants – hey, they are quite strange to some of our own older operators as well.

The good news for migrants who are entering this country is, they don’t have to look for new careers. If they have worked successfully as heavy equipment operators in their own country, they can update their skills here and continue in their chosen profession.

The popularity of heavy equipment careers seems to come in waves – this could be an economic led effect or perhaps an effect brought on by publicity when heavy equipment labor shortages appear. We are currently in a situation where we have both of these effects – an economy that is coming out of a recession and a shortage of heavy equipment operators.

When considering a career as a heavy equipment operator, most people focus on one piece of equipment. You will often hear someone say, “I want to drive a bulldozer”; or “I want to drive a crane”. I can’t help having a little chuckle when I hear the words “I want to drive”. Sure, you do drive trucks and there is an element of driving when it comes to most heavy equipment – but driving is such a small component. The question I always ask is, why are you limiting yourself to a bulldozer?

Heavy equipment careers span a very wide range of machinery and in many cases skills are transferable between machinery. If you can operate an excavator and a front-end loader then you can operate a backhoe – and vice-versa. For this reason, I recommend learning to operate a variety of machinery.

For you, the operator, it makes you far more employable, since you can apply for a wider variety of positions. For an employer, you are far more attractive since you offer employees the flexibility of using your abilities where and when required – this is particularly useful if you are called upon to complete a job where the current operator is ill or injured.

What are the options in heavy equipment careers? There is no limit. Check out any decent heavy equipment training program and they should offer you training on a variety of machinery. Gain as much experience as you can and the sky is the limit.